Description: Man looks through a telescope into a starry night. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04_015
Subjects: Astronomical telescopes; Solar telescopes; Telescopes--History;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Campus, Denison University; Swasey Chapel and Swasey Observatory in background." This is a photograph depicting a scene of the Denison University campus in Granville, Ohio. The Swasey Chapel and Observatory are seen in the background. The Swasey Chapel and Observatory were named after Cleveland trustee and amateur astronomer Ambrose Swasey, the founder of the Warner and Swasey Company which built the observatory. Swasey Chapel was built in 1924 and was the first building designed for the 1917 plan for Greater Denison. Swasey funded the project and the chimes in the chapel tower are a memorial for his wife. Today the chapel is used for religious service. The Swasey observatory was built in 1909. Within the observatory are 3 telescopes used for astrophotography. It also houses an astronomy library and dark rooms. It was built using Vermont marble. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F08_013_001
Subjects: Education; Universities and colleges; Buildings; Chapels; Science and technology; Astronomical observatories; Telescopes; Denison University; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Granville (Ohio); Licking County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "The observatory at Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio. This is the second oldest in the United States and the instruments were brought here from Europe in 1837 by Professor Elias Loomis. Number 1 on the key map." The Loomis Observatory still stands today and houses the original equatorial telescope, transit telescope and sidereal clock. Established in 1826 as the Western Reserve College and Preparatory School, the college portion of the institution moved to Cleveland in 1882 and is now known as Case Western Reserve University. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F02_051_1
Subjects: Education; Schools; Science and technology; Astronomical observatories; Telescopes
Places: Hudson (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)
 

Description: The Swasey observatory was built in 1909. Within the observatory are 3 telescopes used for astrophotography. It also houses an astronomy library and dark rooms. It was built using Vermont marble. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F02_041_1
Subjects: Education; Universities and colleges; Science and technology; Astronomical observatories; Telescopes; Denison University; College campuses; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Granville (Ohio); Licking County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows the Perkins Observatory near Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. Near the observatory is the famous "Big Ear" radio telescope, which had a collecting area of 340 by 70 feet (104 by 21 meters). The Ohio Sky Survey recorded here between 1965 and 1972 was the most accurate, reliable, and complete mapping of cosmic radio signals (the "radio sky") for many years. This observatory conducted a 24-year continuous search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, during which the famous "Wow!" signal was received in 1977. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06504
Subjects: Astronomical observatories; Astronomy; Telescopes; Interstellar communication; Science and Technology
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Delaware County (Ohio)
 

Description: The Swasey Chapel and Observatory are located on the campus of Denison University. They were named after Cleveland trustee and amateur astronomer Ambrose Swasey, the founder of the Warner and Swasey Company which built the observatory. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04_014_1
Subjects: Education; Universities and colleges; Buildings; Chapels; Science and technology; Astronomical observatories; Telescopes; Denison University
Places: Granville (Ohio); Licking County (Ohio)
 

Description: On August 15, 1977, the "Big Ear" radio telescope at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory located in Delaware County detected a highly unusual signal whose source has never been identified, raising the possibility that the signal may be the first record of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The so-called "Wow!" signal received its name from the note Dr. Jerry Ehman wrote in the margin of this computer printout. This strange signal, unique in radio astronomy history, has never been recorded again. NAAPO, the North American Astrophysical Observatory, was chartered in 1983 as a non-profit organization originally formed to save, maintain and operate the Ohio State University Radio Observatory's (OSURO) 110-meter "Big Ear" radio telescope, Ohio's only world class radio telescope. A consortium of local colleges and a group of volunteers worked together under the NAAPO charter. Ohio Wesleyan University owned the land on which the "Big Ear" stood and sold it to land developers in 1982. OSU constructed the "Big Ear" beginning in 1956 on OWU land. They operated the radio telescope research for nearly 40 years. The developers leased the land to NAAPO from 1983 through 1997 so they could continue to operate the telescope. In 1998 the "Big Ear" radio telescope was destroyed by the developers and some of the equipment and most of the records were moved to the West Campus of the Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07146
Subjects: Astronomical observatories; Life on other planets; Science and Technology; Ohio State University--History; Telescopes
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Delaware County (Ohio)